Many crimes are performed utilizing vehicles, which in some cases may be stolen or otherwise illegally obtained and operated. In other cases, the vehicles are legally owned, but the vehicle owner or people associated with the vehicle may perpetrate a crime such as a robbery abduction. The detection of such a vehicle can consume a great deal of law enforcement resources. The successful detection of a vehicle of interest can potentially reduce traffic-related injuries and deaths while providing preemptive curbing of illegal activities. The ultimate goal is to apprehend the person who is associated with the vehicle, i.e., the person who committed the crime.
The majority of conventional approaches to detecting a vehicle of interest involve the use of a license plate scanner that captures vehicle information along with location and time data. This information can be processed to address particular incidents such as solving crimes. Captured license plate images can be checked against a database of vehicles that are of potential interest. Such an approach, however, requires a great deal of processing and is time consuming since it relies on ad hoc data.
Based on the foregoing, it is believed that a need exists for an improved method and system for detecting a vehicle of interest utilizing a traffic image-capturing unit, as will be described in greater detail herein.